3. Wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low. In other words, corporate profits are at an all-time high, in part, because corporations are paying less of their revenue to employees than they ever have. There are lots of reasons for this, many of which are not the fault of the corporations. (It's a global economy now, and 2-3 billion new low-cost employees in China, India, et al, have recently entered the global workforce. This is putting pressure on wages the world over.)

4. Income and wealth inequality in the US economy is near an all-time high: The owners of the country's assets (capital) are winning, everyone else (labor) is losing.

Three charts illustrate this:

The top earners are capturing a higher share of the national income than they have anytime since the 1920s:

CEO pay and corporate profits have skyrocketed in the past 20 years, "production worker" pay has risen 4%.

After adjusting for inflation, average earnings haven't increased in 50 years.

It's worth noting that the US has been in a similar situation before: At the end of the "Roaring '20s," just before the start of the Great Depression. (See some of the charts above).

It took the country 15-20 years to pull out of that slump and fix the imbalances. But by the mid-1950s, employment, corporate profits, wages, and inequality had all returned to more normal levels. And the country enjoyed a couple of decades of relatively well-balanced prosperity. But now, everything's out of whack again.

Importantly, the inequality that has developed in the economy over the past couple of decades is not just a moral issue. It's a practical one. It is, as sociologists might say, "de-stabilizing." It leads directly to the sort of social unrest that we're seeing right now.

Recommended For You

The Board Room

Editors' Picks

Henry, you seem to think that OWS is just about individual economic circumstances. I think you're seriously wrong.

At the heart of most of the complaints I've heard/read articulated is the cancer of pay-to-play politics. People aren't just unhappy about their personal bank accounts, they are completely fed up with political corruption, partisan politics and the complete suspension of the rule of law for elites in this country.

I saw a quote in the NYT this morning -- some hedge fund big shot being interviewed about OWS, complaining that "his" Senators weren't being vocal enough in criticizing the 99%. He says Schumer and Gillibrand "need to understand who their constituency is" -- only high-earners in New York State have a right to representation!!!

The OWS movement is no where near as simplistic as you apparently believe. Congratulations, you're another pundit that doesn't get it.